Murders in an old dark house.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Director: Phil Rosen
Production Company: Monogram Pictures
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white
Keywords: murder; mystery; Monogram Pictures; Wallace Ford; Dave O'Brien

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: panhead1219 - - January 5, 2013
Subject: BEST ACTRESS AWARD
To "Aunt Cassy" (Sarah Padden) for the delightful giggle she had at the right times!

Reviewer: Kodachrome - - January 2, 2013
Subject: A fun murder mystery
Aunt Cassie is loaded and her relatives are tired of waiting for her to die. After a failed attempt at having her declared mentally incompetent, she decides to invite all her heirs to stay at her mansion to size them up for what portion of her money they should actually receive. Shortly thereafter, her heirs begin to be mysteriously murdered, one by one.

Aunt Cassie is a hoot and so is this movie.

Reviewer: ACT1 NowPlaying - - January 1, 2013
Subject: Five Stars for Aunt Cassie *****
Wonderful comedy murder mystery.
I added it to my site at http://act1nowplaying.tv/m2murderbyinvitation1941.html

Reviewer: kareneliot - - July 27, 2010
Subject: ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL MURDER MYSTERY!!!
I highly recommend this movie with a hearty: WATCH IT NOW!!!

This one is WELL WORTH each and every one of the FIVE STARS I gave it.


Patience will reward the civil war enthusiast.

Reviewer: Ann Smithy - - June 6, 2010
Subject: Invitation to my enemies
I knew I was going to like this one as it first began. Yes, its rather like the Cat and the Canary, but different too. It was full of surprises and characters, especially the canary the lady with the mansion.
I found it fun and engaging, never boring or dull. I believe you'll like it too. Bravo for the Sadie Hawkins proposal, and the twist, she had no money!

Reviewer: picfixer - - June 5, 2010
Subject: Relative nuts
A fun second-feature murder mystery with an eccentric little old lady (Sarah Padden) as chief suspect. Wallace Ford is a crime columnist who helps crack the case. A large cast includes Marian Marsh and Dave O'Brien. The mystery doesn't amount to much, but this little movie manages to be engaging with its old mansion honeycombed with secret panels and passages, 3 million in hidden cash and a host of greedy relatives. Favorite line: "Hooray! A murder!" Light entertainment that will keep you off street corners for an hour and five minutes. The tape to digital transfer, probably from Alpha Video, is soft but watchable.

Reviewer: billbarstad - - June 5, 2010
Subject: Good Fun
This film doesn't take itself seriously, and neither did I. It's an 'old house' style mystery/comedy involving a rich matriarch, greedy relatives, a nosy neighbor, a reporting team, and ineffectual police. It's a sort of B-grade The Cat and the Canary (which is referred to in the movie) or Topper Returns.

The relatives, summoned to the matriarch's country mansion at midnight after trying to have her declared mentally incompetent the day before, began dying off at one. The were no clues other than who was being murdered and who wasn't to solve the mystery. Secret passages with hidden doorways and sliding panels riddle the estate.

Wallace Ford played his usual self, here as a reporter, and breaks the fourth wall a couple of times. Marian Marsh disappoints as his secretary/love interest. Herb Vigran was good, as usual, as his photographer. Sarah Padden was great fun as the matriarch with a creepy laugh, and delivered the funniest lines in the film.

I downloaded the 698MB MPEG4 file. Video is somewhat blurry, but Ok. The audio quality was good.